RETREATS IN SWEDEN
Creative retreats in the beautiful countryside of southern Sweden
2027 programme
Retreats 2027
Here are our dates for next season. Full details for each retreat will be available soon.
The cost of the retreat covers accommodation, full board, towels and bedding, and transport to and from the train station.
The teaching is offered on a dana basis, which is an invitation to give as much or as little as feels right for you.
There’ll also be times when you can book a Red Ladder Studio Stay, come here and work on your own creative projects. Or book The Guesthouse for a solitary retreat.
The Winter Bardo
23–30 Jan | £560
A quiet, cosy retreat for the depths of winter — a chance to turn inwards, press pause, and take stock of where our lives and our practice are heading.
Offering the Mandala - 4 day retreat
5 – 9 May | £400
There's a traditional Buddhist ritual in which you create a mandala representing your whole life, then offer it up and let it all go. On this retreat we'll explore that same paradox: wholehearted engagement and open-handed release — building a life we love, while holding it all lightly.
Beauty and Insight
29 May – 5 June | £560
Artists and meditators are both feeling their way into the hidden truths of the world. Each day of this retreat we take one artist and draw out the Dharma at work beneath the surface — letting it feed our inspiration, and our practice.
5 Kinds of Confidence — Lesbian Retreat
12–19 June |£560
Based on the mandala of the five Buddhas, we ask: what are the five aspects of confidence found in their wisdoms? What does it mean for us as women to discover and stand in our own confidence?
The Ten Fetters
28 August - 4 September | £560
Ten illusions keep us from waking up — the Buddha showed that each one can be broken, one by one, opening the way to freedom. We'll explore this through reflection and insight inquiry, drawing on the poet Rumi's images of awakening.
Everything Matters - A path of wabi-sabi Dharma
18 - 25 September | £560
Wabi-sabi is a Japanese aesthetic that finds beauty in things that are impermanent, incomplete and imperfect. Yet these aspects of life, known in Buddhism as the lakshanas, are the very things that can lead us to freedom.
The Venue
Red Ladder Studio is our retreat centre in the south of Sweden.
The property spans nearly two acres, with mature trees, a formal flower garden, a vegetable garden and a small patch of woodland. We’re surrounded by open fields — in summer you’ll often see horses grazing nearby, and occasionally a few curious cows.
Accommodation
The Main House sleeps three guests, with one twin room and one single.
The Guesthouse sleeps three, with one single and two loft beds.
The Bell Tent for those who enjoy being a little closer to nature, there will also be a bell tent tucked into the garden. It sleeps two in real beds with warm bedding and a view over the fields.
Meditation space
We’ve opted to create our meditation space in a large domed tent to be closer to nature. It will be kitted out with rugs, chairs, mats, cushions and blankets, but feel free to bring your own meditation gear.
A Treat for the Body
We believe a retreat should nourish both body and mind. In the evenings, guests can unwind in our small wood-fired sauna.
Most retreats will offer optional guided qigong sessions, and there’s space and equipment available for yoga practice.
Food
We are passionate about good food — food that’s traditional, seasonal, and wherever possible, local and organic. All meals are cooked for you and will be simple but full of flavour and nourishment.
Our menu is vegetarian, with dairy and eggs, and we're happy to cater for vegans with advance notice. Due to the size of our kitchen, we're not able to accommodate other dietary requirements or allergies — if you're unsure whether this works for you, do get in touch before booking.
Work
We’ll create the retreat together and will ask for help with doing the dishes and some light cleaning. We’re also grateful for any help in the garden, the opportunity will be there on all our retreats for those of you who like to get your hands in the earth.
Take a tour
The first is a garden tour taken in July 2026, suffering a little from the drought but still beautiful.
In the second video you take a tour of the main house and garden house as they were set up for our first ever retreat.
More videos coming soon!
Book a place on one of our 2027 retreats
This year, each retreat has space for 8 participants.
Our retreats are intended for people with a regular meditation or Dharma practice. They are not suitable for those who are new to Buddhism or meditation. We do plan to offer more introductory events in the future.
You’ll be asked to pay an £80 non returnable deposit to secure your place. The full retreat fee will be due six weeks before your retreat begins.
Please get in touch if you have any questions.
Cancellations
Cancelling more than 6 weeks before a retreat:
full refund minus the deposit.
Cancelling 4 to 6 weeks before the retreat:
If we can fill your place, full refund minus the deposit,
If we can't fill your place, half refund minus the deposit.
Cancelling less than 4 weeks before the retreat:
If we can fill your place, full refund minus the deposit,
If we can't fill your place, any refunds will be at our discretion depending on circumstances
Travel
Coming from outside Sweden -
Nearest big airport is Copenhagen. Then travel by train via Malmö to Tomelilla, 1.5 hours. We'll pick you up in Tomelilla at 5pm on the day the retreat starts.
There is a smaller airport, Malmo Sturup, which is just 45 mins away by taxi. The taxi costs roughly €100. The journey by public transport is a little longer than if you fly into Copenhagen.
Download the Skånetrafiken App, it will be in English. Search your journey from CPH Airport to Tomelilla. You can buy your ticket on the app. From the plane follow the signs to train or ‘tåg’. You soon come to platform 1, spår 1, trains to Malmö/Sweden (Sverige).
All these trains stop at Malmö Hyllie, the first stop after the bridge, which is where you’ll change trains. From Malmö Hyllie the trains to Tomelilla are every 30 mins or so, the app will tell you which platform you need to be on, and the end destination is usually Simrishamn.
Click on the images below to open in a bigger screen, this is how it will look in the app. Please note these times may change, so be sure to check on the actual day!
Coming from within Sweden -
By public transport, make your way to the train station at Tomelilla. There are regular trains from Malmö or buses from Lund. We'll pick you up at 5pm on the day the retreat starts. Alternatively make your way to Lövestad, just a 5min drive from us and we’ll pick you up there. See https://www.skanetrafiken.se/ for local trains and buses.
If you are coming by car we’ll send directions.